EAGLE RIVER  — Having earned a bronze medal in the 1,500-meter run at the 2012 Warrior Games — an athletic competition that pits U.S. service members against one another — Eagle River’s Mike Sanders is no slouch when it comes to running.

He’s one heck of a cyclist, too.

Sanders, an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force, recently rode 3,700 miles across the country with 13 other disabled veterans in the World T.E.A.M. Sports’ 2012 Sea to Shining Sea ride.

EAGLE RIVER — Moriah Martin is truly taekwondo elite.

Proving the name of her parents’ club — Taekwando Elite USA — the 15-year-old from Eagle River became the first female from Alaska to earn a spot on a national taekwondo team after qualifying for the Junior World Championships on Jan. 15, according to her coach Sherman Nelson Jr.

“There’s never been a girl from Alaska,” said Nelson, who’s been working with the national team for the past decade after retiring from competition in 2001.

EAGLE RIVER — Donna Hightower’s plan didn’t quite work out.

The lifelong Alaskan was going to work at an Anchorage post office for a year before attending college. On Dec. 2, Hightower’s nearly four-decade career as a U.S. Postal Service employee came to an end.

Hightower — who was born and raised in Eagle River — has spent 34 of her nearly 37 years at her hometown post office. Hightower said she was the sixth clerk hired at the first Eagle River post office.

Soon after Kyle Frost was walking, he knew what his life's passion was - aviation. On Saturday, Aug. 13, Frost took a major step toward turning that passion into a career by earning his private pilot's license at age 17.

"I've known I've wanted to fly since before I was four years old," said the Eagle River High junior. "Now that I'm old enough to do it, I just went out and did it."

Few people Frost's age get their pilot's license, said Patrick O'Hare, who's been an instructor since 1975.

"He should be proud of what he accomplished," O'Hare said.